When: Saturday, September 10, 6 PM Where: Tucker Stadium, Cookeville, TN 2021 Record: 3-8 Overview: Almost 70 years ago, these two squads faced off for the first and only time. Both were respective Champions of their conferences. They met in Orlando, Florida in the Tangerine Bowl, the de-facto national championship game for small colleges. The…
When: Thursday, September 1, 7 PM Where: Ernest Hawkins Field at Texas A&M-Commerce Memorial Stadium Overview: Our first game as a Division I school will be a cupcake. One of the great things about being Division I is that you get some of these sometimes. I looked at who Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech…
They’re so familiar that, when you hear them, you know exactly what is happening. There are sports radio broadcast individuals or teams scattered all across the state. Dave South at Texas A&M. The legendary Frank Fallon at Baylor. Brian Jensen at Texas Tech, and Craig Way at Texas. Add to that list names like Brad…
As of July 1, we are finally members of NCAA Division I. It has been something that has been imminent for almost a year now, but finally, Texas A&M-Commerce is at the top of the college athletics rung. We are here. Now, I will admit, and actually this was the opinion of the entire staff…
Greetings, Lion fans, and believe it or not, there’s only 56 days remaining until the opener against Lincoln University on September 1, we here at The Wire are eagerly anticipating the start of football season. There are so many new challenges, new opponents, and the now official move to Division 1, and Brian and I…
Imagine this. At a future home football game you are walking toward the concourse at Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium and you get in line. You have seen the mural on the outside of the stadium before, but this time something catches your eye. National Champions 1952 1972 2017 Wait, did we go back…
“May your hands always be busy May your feet always be swift May you have a strong foundation When the winds of changes shift May your heart always be joyful May your song always be sung And may you stay May you stay forever young” Bob Dylan On a hot summer’s night in June, they…
Sometimes older does not necessarily mean worse. Sometimes older is better. We are a society obsessed with youth and the newest things. We all want new. New cars, new houses, new music, new platforms, new technology, new this and new that. However sometimes there is a great value in cherished traditions and institutions. There is…
Greetings, Lion fans, and to say the past few weeks have been hectic and eventful is a definite understatement. Certain events have taken place recently that Brian and I must address and make some changes going forward here. Brian and I have tried our best operate a fair and honest blog that is entertaining, informative,…
30 Years ago this September, Dallas Morning News SportsDay Writer Kevin Sherrington took the 50 minute trip up Interstate 30 to cover a town that few knew about and a college football team that about as many seemed to have any idea existed. 10 Minutes north of the I-30 exit sat a campus of 9,000…
Every school has traditions. Some are great, some are not. But, traditions are there for a reason. There is reason and rationale behind them. At Texas A&M-Commerce, we have abandoned some traditions or have downplayed some of them. Some of them simply got placed by the wayside, and some of them have been outright abandoned.…
Russell has already said his final words to Tim as our AD, so I am taking this chance to do the same thing, but with a different twist. Tim, Well, I hate to say I knew this day would come, but I have to say I am thrilled for you to find what you found…
This past week was one we all knew could come at any time, but one that you hope never does. For Brian and I personally, it comes from a time when the people in charge just didn’t leave. In my time, assistants would come and go, but people like Ernest Hawkins and Boley Crawford were…
Hard to believe that I have been covering Spring Football games since 2011. I was thinking about how time has just flown and how I have seen the evolution of a program from Conference doormat to conference champions, to national champions, to national powerhouse, and not to Division I, all in the span of a…
Let’s talk about Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium. Our favorite place to be on a fall afternoon in Northeast Texas. I would have a hard time believing that when then-President Dr. James Gee, Coach Milburn Smith, US Speaker of the House and ETSU Sam Rayburn, and Lt. Governor Walter Woodul, along with 12,000 fans…
Greetings, Lion fans, and after a long winter of what can only be described as complete disappointment and frustration, a new day dawns in more than one way across Lion Nation with this week’s Blue-Gold Spring game. After being denied an opportunity get a look the past two years due to COVID restrictions, it appears…
I apologize for the lack of write ups as of late, but so much has been happening in the college sports world, it has been hard to keep up. Either way, time for the second edition of Division I Diatribes. Let’s talk…….$$$$$$$$$$$$$ MONEY $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Ah yes, that thorny subject. The thing that is responsible for…
Well, I guess now is the time. I have been meaning to start sharing thoughts on the transition to Division I since September of last year, but I really underestimated how difficult last football season would be in so many ways, but that being said, it is time to tie up some loose ends. This…
Greetings, Lion fans, and it’s that time of year in which the disappointments of the past season are erased, and the dawn and new hopes for the future are renewed. Much like spring training in baseball, in between National Signing Day and spring football, excitement builds around seeing how new players fit in, how the…
19 new student athletes were brought into the Lion family today, and while the numbers may not seem as many as in years past, the quality of the signees seem to be very, very, good. We’ll have a full analysis this weekend of every player, but two that stand out in the early peek are…
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